...and reminiscences about shows of the past

Peter Kay has written a new book about the making of his TV programmes – and his reminiscences about the programmes of his youth.

To be published in September, TV: Big Adventures On The Small Screen promises to go behind the scenes on Phoenix Nights, Max and Paddy and Car Share.

The comedian said: ‘I’d wanted for years to write about my obsession for TV and working in it.

‘It’s been such a massive pleasure recalling the adventures I’ve had over the last 25  years both in front and behind the camera, and I hope people will enjoy reading about the journey as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.’

The Bolton-born comic is currently on the road with his Better Late Than Never show. When the tour was announced last year after a 12-year hiatus, it broke sales records at venues across the UK.

It followed the sudden cancellation of a planned 14-month tour in 2017, when Kay cited ‘unforeseen family circumstances’. Although that announcement sparked widespread speculation, Kay has never spoken more about the reasons – and the focus of the new book is also clearly on his professional, rather than personal, life as well as nostalgic memories..

Big Adventures On The Small Screen will be published by HarperCollins, whose managing director  Kate Elton said: ‘All of us at HarperNonFiction are absolutely over the moon to be publishing Peter. He’s quite simply one of the most beloved entertainers in Britain, and TV: Big Adventures On The Small Screen is a hilariously funny, wonderfully warm journey through the popular culture of the last 40 years.

‘Chock-full of TV gossip, brilliant one-liners and, of course, irresistible observational comedy, it’s exactly the book every Peter Kay fan has been waiting for.’

Kay’s first book – The Sound of Laughter – is still the biggest-selling hardback autobiography of all time, selling well over a million copies across all print editions since publication in 2007. He followed it up with another memoir, Saturday Night Peter, two years later and the tour tie-in The Book That's More Than Just a Book in 2011.

The blurb for the new title,  which will be priced £25, reads: ‘Charming, sidesplittingly funny and utterly unforgettable, TV: Big Adventures on the Small Screen is Peter Kay at his vivid, nostalgic and hilarious best.’

Harper Collins add that it ‘marks Peter’s long-awaited return to the page, with a nostalgic love letter to a childhood spent idolising "the wooden box in the corner of the front room" that went on to inspire a lifetime’s work in the industry.’

Kay’s 2010 Tour That Doesn't Tour Tour became the Guinness World Record holder for the biggest-selling live comedy tour, playing to a total of 1.2 million people – but was later superseded by American ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, with 1.9million  sales.

Elton and Harper NonFiction publishing director Joel Simons negotiated the deal for the rights with  Charlotte Robertson, at  literary agents Robertson Murray. The books launch will be ‘supported by a huge marketing and publicity campaign.’

Published: 2 Mar 2023